Recent Press

There are studies that show facilities actually have little to do with whether a customer buys a vehicle from a dealership. One such study is Pied Piper Management LLC's annual Prospect Satisfaction Index, which sends anywhere from 3,500 to 4,000 mystery shoppers into dealerships each year to determine what's most important to customers.

And yes, the facility ranks low on importance. In fact, it's the dealership's people that are the most important. Says Fran O'Hagan, Pied Piper's founder, "The sales team is what makes much more of a difference than the facility. That's not to say the facility doesn't make a difference, just that if you and I owned a dealership and had to pick between a great sales team and a great facility; we would pick the great sales team every time."

(For the record, the Pied Piper study is the most comprehensive and provides the most accurate picture of what's going on in the dealership that I've seen. O'Hagan has been in the business for a long time -- much of it as an OEM guy.)

So what role does a facility play in either the vehicle purchase or service for a customer? According to Pied Piper, there are five key points:

Back in 1985, I scraped together every last cent to buy a Kawasaki Ninja 600R from a dealer in Pennsylvania, Bill Peacock. I still remember Bill's business card to this day because below his name he had chosen for a title, “Owner, Janitor.” His point was that his dealership was a small, friendly, hands-on family business.

One of the sales process steps our company measures today is whether a sales customer is introduced to dealership management before leaving the store. For the motorcycle industry, this step is uncommon; happening less than 10 percent of the time when motorcycle sales customers visit dealerships nationwide.

Wandering around this year's Long Beach motorcycle show, I was struck by how dramatically the U.S. motorcycle market has changed — and is still changing. Remember when the four Japanese brands and Harley-Davidson seemed responsible for 95 percent of what was happening, and niche brands like BMW, Ducati, Victory and Triumph were really just curiosities? Today the four Japanese brands and Harley-Davidson are still heavy-hitters, but the brands that used to be curiosities have come on strong with no end in sight for their growth.

Maybe it goes back to that word, “brand.” I've personally been a very good retail motorcycle customer over the years, and I can remember buying sport bikes because of their horsepower, their weight and their handling prowess. I didn't buy those bikes because of the manufacturer who happened to sell them. The danger of course — for that manufacturer or the dealer — is that being the best commodity is a title that is fleeting. If the purchase is strictly based upon the physical product, what happens when the next “best” product is sold by someone else?

Change is good. Think of the most successful retail stores regardless of industry, and we can agree that they all have something in common: they regularly change their in-store displays. Whether it is Gander Mountain, Bass Pro Shops, or your area's most successful car dealership, you can be sure that if you compare what you see today, it is different from their retail displays a month ago.

Now what about your dealership's showroom? If a customer visited a month ago, what is different now that makes it worthwhile for that customer to visit again today?

Earlier this year, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into law allowing Sunday motorcycle sales. While pushing for the change in law, New Jersey motorcycle dealerships observed that many of their customers had been crossing over the state line into Delaware to shop on Sundays. How many motorcycle dealerships nationwide are open on Sundays? For that matter, how many have extended hours on Saturdays, instead of closing early to allow dealership employees to head-off early to enjoy the weekend?

Too many hard-working motorcycle dealerships today are holding on for survival, trying to grind out a living relying on the same number of customer “ups” in a week that they used to see on any given day. First of all, yes, you are in good company; there are plenty of other dealerships in exactly the same predicament; and yes, most would agree that you and your team didn't cause the downturn. On the other hand, you and your team are the ones who can change behaviors to drive success at your dealership right now.

Let's focus on sustainable ways to drive more floor traffic. Note that I said, “sustainable,” since a one-time, budget-busting advertising blitz is probably not the long-term answer. Here are three free or inexpensive solutions that are sustainable:

Probably not. We know that asking for the sale is an obvious key to selling motorcycles, but we also know that on average, U.S. motorcycle salespeople ask for the sale less than half the time (48 percent to be exact). Given that asking for the sale directly sells more motorcycles, why do so many salespeople resist?

Two reasons: First of all because we humans dislike rejection as much as we dislike anything. Salespeople must understand and overcome the natural tendency to avoid asking for the sale just because they believe the answer will be “no.” Ask anyway. The math says that a salesperson will have to ask for the sale to six or seven customers before one will buy. Also, only by asking for the sale will a salesperson discover — and be able to overcome — a customer's objections or obstacles to purchase. Secondly, your salespeople may be worried about coming off as too pushy. Encourage them to worry less. We know that on average. motorcycle salespeople “over-sell” less than 5 percent of the time; compared to “under-selling” 25 percent of the time.

Mercedes-Benz dealerships ranked highest in a study by Pied Piper Management Company to measure how effectively dealerships sell cars. Jaguar and Lexus tied for second.

When it comes to the car buying process, the car pretty much does all the work, pulling in buyers with its impressive MPGs, like the Chevrolet Cruze or Ford Fiesta, or making them drool with offerings of the turbo inline 6 in the BMW 1M. Even completely new and fresh designs like the Kia Soul and completely redesigned models like the Hyundai Elantra are enough to entice buyers— all that's left is to seal the deal. But which dealerships leave customers the most satisfied?

The auto industry is seeing better days since it suffered a crisis back in 2008, when American car sales plummeted to one of its lowest points. Since then, the industry has rebounded and customers are now flocking to dealerships across the country to get their hands on a new set of wheels. But which dealers are performing up to par?